Joshua and the Emperors

Introduction

This story, based on the book of Joshua, is taken from the book
Shay Lamora volume 2, by Solomon Zarqa and Judah Darmon,
published in Leghorn, Italy, in 1864. The book is an encyclopedic
commentary on the book of Exodus, very similar in nature to the
Judeo-Spanish classic, Me`am Lo`ez, written in the vernacular
current in Algeria. But it is not a
translation of that work, and is quite independent. I found it to be a
rich source of the now extinct Lingua Franca and you can find
further details about Zarqa and Darmon's book on
this website. It is a delightful book, written in a simple yet rich
style, containing an amalgam of biblical exposition in the rabbinic
mode, folklore, folk medicine, and sage advice. It was being reprinted
in Tunisia as late as the thirties of the last century, but there are
few people now qualified to enjoy its racy style and attractive
content. Works such as this were frequently studied in synagogues by
those who did not have a thorough command of Hebrew. The translation
which follows is a small sample of its delights.

Joshua and the Emperors

The following happened when Joshua son of Nun killed thirty-one heathen
kings and seized their cities. Joshua 12.24 Afterwards he
besieged the city of Jericho, the name of whose king was Emperor Shobach.
When Shobach heard of the attacks that Joshua was making, and of the
power of the children of Israel, and of the miracles that God was working for
them, he became troubled and deeply disturbed, and could hardly contain
himself, for he feared that they would come and fall upon him and attack
him too. So he sent letters to everybody, and told of the power of the
children of Israel, and that they should gather courage to fight against the
children of Israel. He wrote: "We must go and fight them. You too must
participate. We shall go at one time and destroy this people of Israel! You
know that they are a great army, very powerful, and one of them can beat a
hundred of us. Therefore, if all our people do not band together at one time
and destroy them, they will smite both you and us with a mighty blow, and
soon our names will be blotted out from the world. Therefore, be men, O our
brothers! Let us join together, you with us, and we with you, and thereby
your manliness will be evident."

When the letters from Shobach reached them, they too were filled with
apprehension, and immediately all the kings of the world gathered their
troops, and announced that everyone who was skilled in battle, fighting
weapons, and snares, and was fit, should present himself and bring along his
sword to fight the Israelite forces on a certain day. Whoever would be
absent and not come, his sin would be on his head. Then there gathered
forty-five kings, and each king brought an innumerable host. These kings
came altogether, and gathered before Shobach on one day. The forty-five
kings gathered together and had a conference in the presence of the Emperor
Shobach, and they decided unanimously to write a letter to Joshua the son of
Nun, and inform him that he should present himself to battle.

This is the text of the letter which they sent to him.

Greeting from the forty-five elect, powerful and gracious kings, among whom
is the King of the Medes and Persians. The undersigned bid peace to Joshua
son of Nun.
We beg to inform you that you should not become proud, O wolf of the
forests. We know well everything you have done to our friends and allies.
You have torn down their houses, and destroyed their cities, and slaughtered
them young and old with the sword, attacking them mercilessly. Therefore
we beg to inform you that you should prepare yourself, for, thirty days from
this date, we shall march against you to attack you, and your people the
children of Israel, and we shall destroy you with the sword. Moreover, we
inform you that you should not say that we came treacherously to attack
you; and be informed that we number forty-five kings, great, powerful and
exalted. Each one of us has 600,000 soldiers, each of them a sword-toting
hero, well trained in fighting. Amongst us is the powerful king, famous in
strength and deeds of heroism, Japheth. Therefore, get ready, and do not
imagine that we came upon you unawares. Farewell.

Emperor Shobach and Emperor Japheth.

They entrusted the letter to a fast messenger, who brought it immediately to
Joshua. When Joshua received this letter, it was the day of the Pentecost
festival, which is the day of the giving of our holy law. Joshua opened the
letter and saw what was written in it. A great sadness entered his heart. He
did not want to reveal the news to Israel, because he feared they might be
grieved, and leave off their joy in our holy Torah. So on the day after the
holiday, Joshua gathered them all together in a public place and said: "Give
me your attention, because I have something to talk to you about." All the
Jews said together: "Yes sir, we are obedient to whatever your honor orders
us." Thereupon Joshua mounted a platform, and took that letter from his
pocket and read it to them word for word. When he had finished reading, he
said to them: "You know, O my brothers, how many kings I attacked and
conquered. And I know that before I began to attack them, I was never
afraid of them at all. But this time great fear and dread has entered into me.
You must understand the explanation of this."

When Israel heard Joshua speak to them in this way, fear entered their
hearts also, and they trembled greatly. But right away they plucked up
courage greatly, and spoke up and said to Joshua: "O our master, O long-lived
one. You know that we have neither opinion nor desire in this matter. We
are like sheep, and you are our shepherd. Where you lead us, we shall follow
you. We put our heads under your feet. As we were obedient to our master
Moses, so we are obedient to you. And if your honor feels that you should
respond to their letter, do so and prosper. Pay no attention at all to
what they
say and declare, for the living and enduring Lord of the Worlds is our helper.
He can destroy and remove them in a twinkling, without even a battle."

Joshua said to them: "That is just what I thought too. I have a letter to send
to them which I shall read to you."

This is the text of the letter:

In the name of God, the exalted and powerful God of the children of
Israel, Creator of all the worlds, who weakens the strong, and abases
the powerful who are rebellious and hypocritical. He punishes sinners,
and protects the just, the noble and the generous. He is the God of
all gods, and Lord of lords. There is no master like him, nor any fit
to worship beside him. He is the God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac and
Jacob, the Lord of wars, God is his name. From me, Joshua,
son of Nun, servant of God, may He be exalted, and from the holy
congregation, pure and elect, of the children of Israel, the noble
ones of the worlds, the children of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to the
congregation of the wicked idolatrous peoples, may God curse them and
be angry with them continually, amen. We inform you that you have
aroused the lion from its thicket, and the lioness from her drowsing,
and brought great injury upon yourselves in your accursed congregation,
wherein you have assembled against us and sent us an announcement. We
want you to know that he has brought you to us, the pure and holy
congregation, and your meeting with us is known to us. Therefore, be it
known to you that I am going to do you a favor in not bothering you to
come here to attack us. No, you can stay at home and remain at work,
for one week from now I the undersigned will present myself to you,
and I will bring along just a few men of the children of Israel, and we
shall wage a fierce war with you with the help of God, may He be
exalted. And we shall kill all your troops, young and old. We shall
not return until we destroy you from this world, and not a single one
of you will be left to tell the tale. Moreover, even though you number
forty-five kings, and you boast of your soldiers that they are
numerous and experienced, be it known to you that I and my
congregation rely only on the Lord of the World, who created heaven
and earth and everything in them, by whose command Sodom and Gomorrah
were destroyed, and who brought the waters of the flood on the world
because they were disobedient. Noah saved his children from the waters
of the flood, and from them were descended all mankind who are in the
world, and the globe was divided among seventy nations. And we, the
children of Israel, were made to pass through the middle of the sea to
the number of 600,000 souls, and the sea became absorbent like the
land. The light of God went before us in a pillar of cloud and fire,
and 12,000 of us killed five kings of Midian. And we killed the
sorcerer Balaam with the sword, and he was surely stronger than that
Japhet on whom you rely. But we did not lose a single one of the
children of Israel.
We have a leader whose name is Phineas, who has trumpets and bugles,
and when he blows on them, all our enemies fall on the ground and
die. It is indeed apparent to me that you know what God, may He be
praised, did to Pharoah King of Egypt, and to all his people, for the
punishments he imposed on them were even stranger that the miracles he
showed them. Finally, he drowned them all in the sea. Moreover, you
are aware of what he did to that dog Amalek and his army, and to Sihon
and Og, kings of the Amorites and Bashan, who were the most notorious
kings in the world. By God's power we destroyed them from the
world. You are aware what God, may He be praised, did for a period of
forty years that we dwelt in the wilderness. He gave us the manna and
the quails, and clothed us in miraculous garments. When we grew, our
clothes grew with us, and they stayed new, not getting old or
worn. There were additional miracles which God wrought for us,
innumerable and endless. If you rely on the hero Japheth, why, we rely
on Him who is stronger than the strong, higher than the high, and more
powerful than the powerful, God who is sole and without partner, may
He be praised.

The servant of God, Joshua son of Nun.

When Israel heard the wondrous text of the letter, they approved it, and
were greatly encouraged, and said to Joshua: "We hope you will send it
off without delay." Immediately, Joshua signed and sealed the letter,
and gave it to the messenger to deliver it. When he came to King
Shobach and the other kings who were with him, he handed over the
letter to them, and told them of the dominance and superiority of
Israel, and how Joshua was sitting as ruler with a crown of authority
of his head, on which was inscribed the Tetragrammaton. When they heard
what he said, they read the letter, and comprehended its contents, and
great fear and trembling overtook them, and they regretted that they
had brought about their own destruction, and did not know what would
become of them.

Thereupon Joshua son of Nun gathered the soldiers of Israel to the number
of twelve thousand warriors carrying with them swords and javelins for
the attack. Within one week they rode and fell upon Shobach and the
rest of the kings. When Shobach saw the army of the Jews, and their
height and stature, and the light shining in their countenances, he
was paralyzed with fear, and confused and astounded to the extent that
he did not know how to begin to repel them. He then summoned the rest
of the kings who were with him and said to them: "You observe the
countenance and stature of these people. I see that for sure they will
destroy us utterly. Figure out something so that we can save
ourselves." They took counsel with one another, and concluded that
they had to go and get advice and guidance from Shobach's mother, who
was a witch. This witch was very wicked, and very expert at
witchcraft. They went to her and told her the whole story. She told
them to go and relax, and not worry at all, because she would take
care of their affair and work her witchcraft and lock up Joshua and
his army inside the seven iron walls of Jericho. (Jericho had seven
walls, one inside the other.) Her incantation reached Joshua and his
army, and they found themselves inside the seven walls, and they could
not find a way to get out and enter the city. Joshua was weeping and
imploring God to help him, and then it occurred to him to write a
letter to Yaniah of the tribe of Reuben, who was ruler of the two and
a half tribes of Reuben, Gad, and half the tribe of Manasseh, to bring
his army, and Phineas too with his loud-sounding trumpets. When he had
written it, he could not find anyone with whom he might send it. Night
fell while he was considering the matter, when suddenly a dove came to
him. He decided to send the letter with her, because this bird is
known to be reliable, as we find in the case of Noah, who dispatched a
dove. Moreover, the community of Israel is compared to a dove, as the
verse says: "Do you lie between the sheepfolds, wings of a dove?"
Psalm 68.14 So he took that dove, and tied the letter to
her wing and released her. Immediately she flew off to Yaniah. When
she reached his territory she came and stood before Yaniah, and
flapped her wings until she gave him a headache. Yaniah took her and
examined her, and found a letter tied to her wing. He opened it and
read it, and he became very sad. Immediately he sent a crier to the
square with a drum and other instruments, and gathered all his army,
and also summoned Phineas. He read them the letter from Joshua, and
immediately they made up their minds. Then Yaniah and his army rode
off, and Phineas with his pipers, and they reached Joshua in
Jericho. When the witch the mistress of witchcraft saw them, she
called to her only child Shobach and said to him: "My son, know that
today I cast a horoscope and found a star ascending in the east. I
said I would repeat the horoscope, and I found that powerful star
rising, and no one can overcome it."

When Joshua wanted to enter Jericho, he gathered together before him
all Israel, and gave them orders and told them: "Be it known to you
that all the gain and profit from Jericho is utterly forbidden. No
Israelite is permitted to benefit from it even to the extent of a
single needle. I ask you this favor, that you take care to get Rahab
the harlot and her family out of the city. Pay careful attention to
them so that no one hurts them. But the city of Jericho you should set
on fire and burn. Gather together all the gold, silver, brass and iron
that you come across and put it all to sacred use." All Israel
accepted all that Joshua had commanded, and said: "To hear is to
obey."

However, a certain man by the name of Achan son of Carmi, son of
Zabdi, son of Zarach, of the tribe of Judah disobeyed Joshua's
orders. When he entered Jericho he came across a Babylonian cloak, and
the sum of two hundred shekels, and a bar of gold weighing fifty
shekels, and took them and hid them, and no one disturbed them.

After Joshua took the city of Jericho, he sent some men to scout the
city of Ai, so that they might go and take it. They answered Joshua
and said that it was a small city, and he should not bother sending
the whole army. Just one or two thousand men could take it. Thereupon
Joshua gave orders to three thousand men to attack Ai. They went and
were unsuccessful in their attack, and Yair son of Manasseh, who was
accounted like thirty-six righteous men was killed. And when Israel
saw God's decree that the righteous man was lost, and they could not
take the city, they straightway returned to Joshua, and repeated the
story to him. When Joshua heard of their victory which had occurred,
he immediately gathered the elders of Israel, and they made a great
lament, and put dust on their heads, and fell on their faces before
the Ark of the Torah with great weeping. Joshua arose and prayed to
the Holy One, blessed be he, and implored him and said: "Master of the
universe! Get us out of the straits in which we are. For if the
Amorites, Canaanites and other peoples hear of the defeat we have
sustained they will assemble against us, and destroy us from the world,
God forbid.

The Holy One, blessed be he, answered him and said to him: "Why have
you allowed such sadness to enter your hearts? Why are you punishing
yourselves thus? Put your mind at ease. However, this is the reason
for your trouble. A certain Israelite has transgressed the ban I have
enacted. Greed has tempted him, and he has taken some of the goods of
Jericho, and on his account this thing has befallen you. You must take
notice of this and search for the guilty party until you find him. For
so long as he is not exposed, Israel will have no success in her
attacks, and will constantly lose to her enemies. When you come across
the guilty party, you must judge him and burn him, because he
transgressed the ban, and caused harm to Israel."

Next morning, Joshua arose and gathered all Israel and set each tribe
separately. He made them all pass in front of the Urim and
Thummim. When the turn of the tribe of Judah came, the stone which was
in the Urim and Thummim lost its brightness. Joshua understood and
released the other tribes. He took the tribe of Judah, and divided it
into families, and cast the lot over them. The lot fell on the family
of Zarah. He then gathered all the men of the family of Zarah, and
cast the lot over them. The lot fell on Achan, the guilty
party. Joshua took him and said: "My son, I want you to confess to me
your guilt, for you see the trouble that has befallen Israel. So do
honor to the God of Israel and confess." Achan replied to him: "I am
surprised that you trust the lot and want to harm me. If I cast the
lot on you and Eleazar the priest, it would have to fall on one of
you, even though you are the leaders of Israel, and I know that both
of you are blameless. Hear then the reason that you should not trust
the lot." Joshua said to Achan: "For God's sake, do not slander the
lot. You know that our master Moses wrote in the holy Torah: 'The land
shall be divided only by lot.' Numbers 26.55 So you had
better confess the truth, and have no fear."

When Achan heard what Joshua said, he understood it to mean that he
would suffer no harm in this world. But Joshua was referring to the
world to come, while in this world he must be punished. Thereupon he
confessed and said: "I have sinned against the God of Israel. From the
great lust of my heart, temptation deluded me, and I took some of the
things of Jericho. I have hidden them in such and such a place. I also
confess to you that this is not the first time I have done it. In the
time of our master Moses, I acted similarly in one of the cities which
Israel captured, and they proclaimed a ban that no one should benefit
from its booty. But temptation deluded me, and I benefited therefrom."
Right away Joshua brought those things from Achan's house, and he took
them in his hand and threw them in anger upon the ground. He raised
his eyes to heaven and said: "Master of the universe, for such trifles
you have to bring an evil decree against Israel!"

They took Achan and all his herds, and cast them into a blazing
fire. His family and all Israel were present at the spectacle, so that
thereafter they would be careful not to do such things. However, our
sages, peace be upon them, declared that Achan would have a share in
the world to come, learning it from the verse the Lord trouble
you this day.Joshua 7.25 This means that on that
day only he was punished. But he will gain admission to the
next world because he made confession and repented.